Lost and Found
by xx Artistic Logic
Summary: Amy Cahill was never the kind to believe in legends. According to her, the magic of those mythical stories was never meant to leave the pages of her books. That all changes when she is sent to Green Meadows. In a town whose quietness and peace was supposed to heal her wounds, she ends up embarking the biggest adventure of her life.
1. 1

"Underwear?"

"Check."

"Chargers?"

"Check."

"Pictures?"

"For the thousandth time, _check_ ," Steph Hwang sighed, rolling her eyes. She waved her hands at the open suitcase on top of Amy Cahill's bed. "We've gone through your 'Basic Belongings' and 'Easily-Forgotten Things' checklists for like a thousand times! All your stuff is in there so just throw those checklists in the trash and enjoy your last moments here!"

Amy looked down at her wrinkled checklist, pursing her lips. After a few thoughtful seconds, she murmured, "These are not my last moments here. I'll be back after summer."

"That's almost eight months, Amy," Steph added in a broken voice. A few moments of silence followed. "I've gotten used to seeing you every day for as long as I remember. Now…"

"You'll see me every day through Skype," Amy replied, handing her best friend an assuring smile. She zipped her suitcase closed and sat down next to Steph.

"This was the semester we'd be getting Mrs. Schmitty for Chemistry," Steph continued, looking down at her feet. "Her craziness is a legend in our school… we were supposed to laugh at her crazy antics _together_!"

Amy remained silent, fidgeting with her fingers. She wished she could reply, but she was afraid that her voice would crack with unshed tears. She just sat there in silence, staring out the window. She could see St. Mary's Boarding School for Girl's forest unfold for miles and miles. Ever since she was young, she remembered the forest being infamous for the supposed satanic cult that would meet up there in the middle of the night. Now at seventeen, it was hard for Amy to believe all those things. However, she'd still miss the small inkling of fear she would feel at night whenever she heard a strange noise coming from the forest.

She would also miss the distant bells that could be heard from the nearby town, the bells that would wake her up every day at 8 AM. She would miss enjoying the school's beloved apple pies with her best friend, Steph, and her classmates. She would miss anticipating the Spring and Summer Dances with their brother school, and then, once there, feeling too shy to actually do all of the things she and her friends had promised themselves to do. She would even miss receiving the eye rolls from her classmates after getting a good grade on the difficult Literature essays.

 _It's only eight months, Amy,_ she told herself, swallowing down her tears. She smiled at Steph. "You'll have to tell me all about our new History professor. I heard he has actually been in archaeological sites."

"I'll try to pay attention to his probably boring tales about dusty, old trinkets," Steph mumbled, her face distorting with disgust. After a few seconds of silence, the color from her face drained out, and her dark eyes widened with a sudden realization. "Oh my God, who's gonna hand me the class notes whenever I fall asleep?"

Amy grinned as Steph begun to panic.

A knock at the door cut Steph's panic attack short. The door creaked open and in came a short brunette, her glossy lips pursed in an arrogant manner. "Amelia Cahill."

"My full name's just Amy, not Amelia," Amy whispered under her breath. "Hello, Jenny."

"I just came to say goodbye," she continued in her nasally voice. "And to tell you to pick up your bag and come downstairs to the main hall. The class has something for you."

Amy glanced at Steph, surprised. "Really?"

Steph shrugged, smiling knowingly as she dragged out her friend's suitcase. Amy followed closely behind.

"It's not such a big deal," Jenny commented as the girls walked down the spiral stairs.

Once below, the three were greeted by the thirty girls that made up eleventh grade, the girls Amy had shared most of her life with.

"She's here!" one of them exclaimed. Instantly, the girls got into a half-moon formation in front of Amy.

"We'll miss you so much!" they all begun to say, taking turns to hug her.

"We got you this," the class president, Samantha Raines, said, smiling as she handed Amy a package.

"Wow, thank you," Amy breathed out, still surprised by the gesture. She took the heavy package and gently opened it up. Her eyes sparkled in awe as she inspected the beautiful book in her hands. Its cover was engraved with golden details, making it look straight out of a fairytale. "Oh my goodness…"

"It's that compilation of 'lost' myths you kept rambling on about with Ms. Spencer," Jenny said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"That town your aunt lives in is quite a long way from here, so we thought we'd provide you with some entertainment for the road," Steph explained, wrapping an arm around her best friend's shoulder.

"Oh my God!" Amy exclaimed, hugging the book close to her chest. She smiled at all the girls. "Thank you so much."

"We also got the cook to make you a few apple pies," Samantha continued, handing Amy a container filled with apple pie slices.

Amy's smile faltered. "Wow… thank you."

Steph's grip around her shoulder's weakened, as she worriedly glanced at her friend.

 _They really don't know why I'm leaving for a semester,_ Amy thought, feeling both surprised and relieved at the same time as she stared at the apple pies.

"Amy Cahill! Your cousins are here to pick you up!" a professor announced from the hall's entrance.

Amy's classmates begun lamenting this fact out loud as they accompanied her out the door.

"Seriously, how am I gonna survive without you?" Steph asked her once they were outside.

"I'm asking myself the same thing," Amy told her, her brows furrowed together as she tried to muster up a smile. Now that the moment of her departure had finally arrived, what was awaiting her became clearer and scarier: an unknown town, a new school, a new environment to adapt to. All that she'd known was inside St. Mary's, and now...

Her cousin honked from the car, prompting Amy to hurry.

"I've gotta go," Amy told everybody. "But thank you… for everything."

She hugged Steph and a couple of other girls before rushing towards her cousin's car. She just wanted to get over the goodbyes and get on with it. There was no use in extending that sad moment any longer.

"Welcome to the Starling car," Ted announced from the front seat, smirking at his cousin.

"You're late," Sinead muttered, handing a quick glance at Amy through the rear-view mirror. She impatiently patted her finger against the stirring wheel.

"Calm down, Sis," Ned said, before patting the empty spot on the backseat next to him. "Come here, Amy."

Amy smiled, getting into the car. "Thanks…"

"Finally," Sinead mumbled, before zooming out of her school's driveway.

Amy's heart begun to pound as she looked through the window, her school and home becoming smaller the farther away her cousin drove.

"Is that pie I see?" Ted asked, turning around and narrowing his eyes at the container.

"Yeah," Amy quietly replied. She handed him a small smile. "Would you like some?"

"Yes, please," Ted said, snatching away the container.

"Hey, I want some too!" Ned protested.

"Shut up and let me focus on my driving!" Sinead barked. "And get that stupid thing away from me, I'm on a _diet_ for prom!"

Amy shrunk away in her seat, gripping the book in her hands. She did not know her cousins that well. They lived with her brother, Dan, in Green Meadows. She would see them for a few days when they would drop off Dan at her grandmother's house every summer and that was it. Now, she was supposed to live with them and interact with them on a daily basis. She took a look at Sinead's annoyed frown and at both Ted and Ned gulping down her pie. _Well, let's see how it works out,_ she thought with a sigh.

She leaned her head against the window, looking out at the passing trees. The car was going so fast that they all looked like a blurred stripe of green and brown. As she got lost in the view, she couldn't help but wonder about all that had happened the past few months. _You will get over it, you'll see,_ she remembered Steph's voice the day she told her everything.

"Want some pie?" Ted's voice interrupted her pie. She looked up to find him holding the container in front of her.

Amy gulped, looking at the caramelized apples, the golden-brown crust, and smelling the tangy aroma of the apple sauce. _They don't know why I'm going to live with them either,_ she noted.

"S-sure," Amy stammered with uncertainty. She took a bite out of the pie, already feeling her stomach becoming bigger. She stopped.

"You'll love Green Meadows," Ned assured her. "We'll be dropping off a renewed Amy at your grandma's this summer."

Amy smiled to herself. _I hope._

* * *

 _A note from your crazy author:_

Hello, readers. First of all, thank you for taking your time to read through this experiment of mine. I hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to see how it unfolds.

Now, as you might've already noticed, this is not really canon. And it won't because: a) I stopped reading the books after the first series (something I don't regret after hearing what happens from Day of Doom and onwards) and, b) Who the heck is Carrie/Cara and why is she blowing holes into my ship?! So yes, this is definitely going to be noncanon.

Also, I'm writing this not only because I absolutely love creating stories, but because I want to improve. So if you have anything to say about my writing, please share! I will greatly appreciate it.

Well, I don't really know how this story will go, but I do hope we all enjoy it. I certainly already am... I haven't written any FF for a loooong time and this brings back some nice memories.

Now, I'll go back to studying for my finals. Any of you readers going through exams as well? Or am I the only one suffering?

See you!


	2. 2

_A note from your crazy author:_

To Rival Argentica: Thank you so much for your review! I love readers like you haha. I hope you like the story and I will certainly be taking any suggestions you make in consideration. Well, I cannot really answer your questions... you have no other choice but to stay tuned to see how it unfolds *evil laughter*. And I'm glad that you're done with your finals... I'm still missing two more plus a project, but after that, I am a free soul.

And now, readers, here is Chapter 2. It is quite long, I know... but I won't promise shorter future chapters hehe... in fact, they might be longer (maybe). I hope you guys like it.

Also, now that summer's approaching, expect more updates. I might be doing some travel, but nothing to deter me from updating. How about you, readers, any plans for the summer? Or are you guys just chillin?

* * *

She was running. Her heart was pounding so fast, she could barely breathe. But she couldn't stop. If she did, that would certainly be her end.

She could still hear his steps behind her. With every second that passed, hers got slower, his got faster. She could feel his presence behind her, tailing her every move, her every sudden turn. She was trying so hard to lose him, to get a few seconds just to hide and wait for him to go away.

Her breathing was becoming heavier, she was slowly running out of breath. But she couldn't stop and she wouldn't stop.

She was not ready to die.

She heard the thunder boom in the distance. She looked up at the sky, and felt the first drop of water land on the bridge of her nose. An inkling of hope bubbled in her heart. Rain had always meant the start of something good in her life.

It rained the day she was born; it rained the day she got the best test score in her class; it rained the day her brother was born; it rained the day she first went to the city with her parents; it rained the day she met him.

She sobbed, feeling the tears brimming in her eyes.

She loved him, she was sure of that. And he loved her, or that's what she thought. He claimed he loved her even more than she loved him, and that's why he needed to kill her. He said it would hurt him, that the moment he ended her life, his would end too.

The hem of her dress was now covered in dirt, and her sleeves were torn apart by the branches in the forest. No matter how much she ran, how much distance she covered, she never seemed to find the way out of that dark forest.

She did not understand why he had to kill her. She just ran away the moment that she saw the knife glistening in his trembling hand.

Her legs hurt so much, she could no longer breath. _Don't stop, don't stop,_ she begged her body, wiping away the sweat on her forehead. She looked at her hand; it was now smeared with sweat and mud.

That's when she realized she could no longer hear him.

Had she managed to lose him? Had he decided not to kill her?

She could not think of it any longer, she just had to stop. She felt her legs give in, her knees land on the ground. She panted for air, trying to swallow down the urge to cry. _You're so stupid,_ she told herself, looking up at the sky. Above the tall, bushy trees, she could see the light of the sun covered by the grey clouds. The light droplets of rain from before had become even more frequent.

 _You're so stupid… how could you not see he didn't love you?_ She asked herself. But even then, even after he had threatened her with a knife and chased her through the forest, she couldn't see any signs of his lack of love prior to that day.

 _You even thought you two would get married_. She bit her lip hard, refusing to cry out for a man like him. She just wished she could be back home, in the arms of her family, knowing that someday her heart would forget him.

An eerie feeling hovered over her.

She stopped breathing, frozen with fear. Something was behind her, slowly creeping up on her…

 _Snap._

The sound of a breaking twig woke her up from her daze. She jumped up to her feet and turned around, horrified to find him there, knife in the air.

His face was smeared with tears. She looked into his eyes. They used to be so warm and welcoming to her; now she could only see a killer. And the fact that she still loved him, the person holding up a knife to end her life, made her angry at herself.

"Why?" she croaked out, slowly inching away from him.

He shook his head, his face distorted with pain. "I… I have to… just…" He breathed out, the hand holding the knife falling to his side in a defeated manner.

She gazed at him. It was as if the life had been sucked out of him. He was not carrying himself with his usual confidence -his composure was weak, tired, desperate.

They looked at each other for a few seconds. All the happy memories, all those experiences they shared flashed in her mind at that moment. She could tell he was thinking of that too. With him, she could just tell what he felt, what he was thinking about.

"I don't understand why you have to kill me," she said, trying to keep her shaking voice steady.

That was the only thing she could not tell.

He looked down at the knife in his hand. "Me neither."

 _This is your chance to run._ She felt everything around her go silent as she took one step behind her. Then another, then another… she turned around, gasping as she began running away.

But he grabbed her arm, twirled her around, and held the knife up in the air-

* * *

The car came to a sudden halt. Amy's head landed on the window, immediately waking her up. Short of breath, she inspected her surroundings. For a moment, she expected to find herself in the woods, covered in dirt, about to be stabbed by a man she did not know and yet loved.

"What the hell," she whispered under her breath, realizing it was all just a nightmare. It felt so real.

"Yeah, what the hell Sinead?" Ted groggily exclaimed from the front seat, waking up from his own nap.

"A wolf just ran in front of the freaking car," Sinead snapped, angrily pointing at the road in front of her. "You know how there are always wolves popping out of nowhere at this spot. I'm just making sure he doesn't come back before I keep driving…"

Amy looked out the window. _Welcome to Green Meadows,_ she read. They were surrounded at both sides of the street by forest, the same forest that extended all the way over to St. Mary's.

"I'm sure he's not coming back," Ned gently told Sinead.

Wordlessly, the red-haired girl slowly begun driving once again.

Ned smiled at Amy, pointing at the book on her lap. "What's it about?"

"It's a collection of myths and legends," she said, looking down at the thick book.

"Interesting," he murmured, nodding his approval. "Are they scary?"

"Rather than scary, they're unsettling," Amy clarified, leaning back on her seat. She tried to relax from her nightmare. "For example, there's one about this group of people… for decades, they've been trying to 'open the doors' to the 'dimension of darkness'. The key is a certain amount of blood of women they kill in this very same forest."

"This very same forest?" Ned repeated, his eyes slightly widening.

"The story is supposed to take place in Green Meadows… or at least, around this area," Amy explained, opening the book to the page of the story. _Legend #12_.

Ned gulped, fidgeting with his seatbelt. "I see…"

"Why are you scared?" Sinead scoffed. "It's _women_ , not men, idiot."

"You know, Amy, you didn't strike me as the kind to read this type of books," Ted commented.

"Well, I usually prefer other books," Amy replied, looking out the window. Small shops and buildings were finally beginning to pop up. "But this one is a collection of lost legends. There are pieces of these all over the world; people just haven't found them or haven't been able to piece them together. I find that interesting."

"How can you read incomplete stories? That's like beginning a TV show and stopping right before the season finale," Sinead said, honking at an old man outside a shop before waving at him.

"He's Green Meadow's best baker," Ted told Amy, referring to the kind-looking man waving back at Sinead. The boy pointed at her apple pie. "That thing was the best thing that happened to my taste buds today, but it's not nearly as good as what Alistair Oh makes."

"In fact, we're making a stop here," Sinead announced, parking the car in front of the bakery.

"I thought you were on a diet," Ted taunted, unbuckling his seat-belt, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

Ned snickered, opening the car.

"It's not for me," Sinead quickly clarified, frowning at both her brothers. "It's for Amy to try… plus, Dan asked for some-"

"Since when do you hear Dan's requests?" Ted cut in, laughing out loud as he stepped out of the car.

"I said it's not for me!" Sinead insisted.

As the triplets continued to taunt each other and argue, Amy took that moment to inspect Green Meadows.

It was quite beautiful. It was a small town, but yet, the different shops, the laughing pedestrians, and the kindness that radiated from their eyes gave Green Meadows a unique color that no other town had. The fresh smell of the forest's trees and the backdrop of mountains did, indeed, give Green Meadows that feeling of tranquility Aunt Starling had told her grandmother about. She looked up at the sky. It was covered in clouds -Aunt Starling did mention that the usual weather was cloudy -but she didn't mind. Amy did enjoy bright blue skies and sunny days, but she also liked cloudy days. Especially when it rained.

Suddenly, a drop of rain landed on the bridge of her nose.

"Oh, crap, is it going to rain today?" Ned wondered at the entrance of the bakery. "I was planning on going for a jog after this…"

Amy stretched out her hand, waiting to feel more drops of rain. She couldn't help but smile when she felt the cold water on her palm. Dan and she used to have a tradition every time it rained. She was sure he was also thinking about it right now, unless he was absorbed by his video-games in his room.

"A jog? That's something Sinead and her diet should be thinking of doing after all that bread she's gonna stuff in her mouth," Ted snickered.

"Shut the hell up!" Sinead barked, pushing her cackling brother away.

Amy then heard the murmur of a distant conversation. She glanced to her right, where a group of boys in uniform seemed to be making their way towards the bakery. She felt a pair of eyes on her.

"Come on in, Amy! You'll definitely love Oh's Bakery," she heard Ted call for her.

Her eyes met a pair of amber eyes.

A mocking voice called out, "Oh, hey Sinead."

"Before you go reminding me of your win at Knowledge Bowl," Sinead snapped at one of the boys in the group. "Shall I remind you of who got into Harvard and who didn't, Hamilton?"

"I actually got wait-listed… and I'm now in," Hamilton clarified, stuffing his hands in his fancy uniform's pockets. He smirked, clearly enjoying the look of surprise in Sinead's face. "I guess your little public high school isn't really that updated with the important news, huh?"

Amy was the first to break eye contact with the amber-eyed boy. She looked down at her fidgeting fingers, still feeling his gaze on her. Trying to distract herself, she turned to look at her cousin.

"That's because we have a life there… unlike you," Sinead cooed, slightly pushing Hamilton away. "We are too busy to care about how much money the parents of spoiled brats like yourself had to pay Harvard to admit their children."

The other boys hooted and snickered. Hamilton, a quite imposing figure with his tall height and thick build, glared at Sinead. "My parents-"

"Save yourself the lie," Sinead cut in, going back to her car. "Come on boys, Amy must be tired."

Ted's eyes widened. "But-"

Before he could protest, Ned dragged him away towards the car.

"Amy?" Hamilton asked. His eyes turned to Amy, a mischievous smile illuminating his face. "Oh, we have a new girl in town."

The boy of the amber eyes looked at her once again. Amy admitted to herself that he was quite good-looking. His jet-black hair fell slightly over his eyes, giving his elegant, confident composure a bit of a boyish charm. He was not smiling, but she had a hunch that his smile would be even more striking than his eyes.

"Amy, get in the car," Ned said, sounding like an over-protective older brother as he worriedly glanced at Hamilton.

Wordlessly, Amy obeyed.

"See you around?" Hamilton asked, handing her a flirty smile as he gripped her shoulder. "How about at Bosket tonight? It's a nice little bar the guys and I like to frequent. Ask Sinead where it is, she is an expert in getting there."

"Thanks for the offer," Amy quietly replied, looking away from his steady gaze. "But I'll be too busy unpacking…"

Hamilton chuckled. "Very well… if you change your mind, though, I'm free whenever you're free. Ask Sinead for my number. By the way, your name is… Amy Smith? Amy Evans? Amy…?"

Amy simply walked away and got in the car, ignoring his question.

As the car zoomed out, she couldn't help but take one last look at the amber-eyed boy. She was surprised to find him looking back at the car as he and the other boys got into Oh's Bakery. She quickly looked away. He might've been good-looking, but he hung around the kind of people Amy would deem a waste of her time.

"Hamilton and his crew," Ted mumbled, shaking his head. "You did well ignoring him, Amy… make sure to not cross paths with him and his friends."


End file.
